Spirit Ridge Rifle Golf

I recently have picked up the sport of "long range" hunting. One of my biggest challanges in developing my skills was finding a "real environment" range to practice. I was asking several of my friends who are also in the sport where they go to practice those real world shots. None of them had very "good....or practicle" solutions.

Realizing that this may be one of the inherent challanges of the sport, I had concluded that there really was no place to go and practice. As I was watching TV late one Saturday night I came across "Roughin Outdoors" special which highlighted a new rifle range / golf course called; Spirit Ridge Rifle Golf.

I was impressed!!! The course offered everything I had been looking for. I was so impressed that I attended one of their tournaments. I was an amazing experience.

Here are some of the highlights and missions of the course...from their website:

Provide outdoorsmen with the most realistic, exhilerating and educational target shooting experience in the world

Helps you practice your skills and become a better shooter in a real-life environment

Uses a golf style scoring system as you move from station to station making the course very competitive and fun.

Ranges from 175 to 1200 / designed to mimic real-life hunting experience.

More than 30 targets at different angles and elevations.

One of the things I liked most about the website and overall operation, is they state that they:

"discourage taking long-range shots in the field without first proving yourself on the the course. By reaching and and pushing your limits at Spirit Ridge, you'll develop increased accuracy and consistency, making you a more successful and more responsible hunter."

I think this is great! The operation and staff is first class! I asked the owner / operator of Spirit Ridge to join this forum. His ID name is: Spiritridge27. / stuvgi@hotmail.com

Hopefully he will post soon and provide us additional information on things they are working on and solicit our feedback.

If the owner/opperator is on this sight, here is some constructive feed back for him. I attended one of these this year to check it out. I was very pleased with the quality of personel there and the way that the courses were set up. I liked the challenge of shooting across one and even two canyons with crosswinds that palyed hell on the shooters. Things that I didn't like, and reasons why I won't go back, they were constantly in a rush. they would have you shoot at your first target, and if you missed they rushed you to your second target and so forth. Then as soon as you were done shooting they wanted the next person to shoot right away. They guides that I had with me were very persistant in insisting that I not use my own spotter to spot my shots because their spotter was the next one to shoot. At one point they were really rushing us because we had another group pull up when we were still shooting. I wanted my spotter calling wind and my shot from right to the side of or behind me. They seemed very displeased that I was trying to take alot of time to make the shots. I asked the guide about it and he said all they were trying to do is just get everybody through the course and they had a time they had to keep to so that everyone didn't stack up. If I remember right they had people starting every half an hour with groups as large as 5. We had 4 in our group and at each station we shot 3 "holes" with a minimum of three shots each and a maximum of like 4 shots each hole. I was trying to hurry but also trying to make the shots count and felt that they had unreal expectations of everyone shooting to keep the time. For this reason I would not use this as a tool to improve your shots on game. In the field I would wait for the right shot conditions to take the shot. I would take time to get everything right and feel comfortable taking the shot or I would not take it at all and I didnot feel that they allowed adiquate time for me to prepair for each shot. Most of the time it felt like it was a "well, shoot and see where you hit" sort of thing. I know that they need to run a buisness and get all of their clients through the course so that is why I don't hold it against them too much. I thought that it was an overall positive experience and thought that the course was great. Although I might not go back, I encourage anyone who wants to to go out and give it a try. Who knows maybe it'll be your sort of thing. Good luck to you guys.

well i am from utah and had not heard of this course but i am very thankful some one posted it!!! It sounds like sporting clays which is golf with a shotgun so this is the rifle version

Great info. thanks for posting
ps i agree for someone to go to the trouble of putting together a business based on a shooting sport in this day and age he should be applauded and as in any business the customers needs will more than likely be heard and accomadated like the other gentleman spoke of being rushed, thier are options that someone will come up with .

Thank you for your interest and your and your comments in regards to our new venture. There have been many decisions to be made as far as how to please our customers, and making sure there is complete satisfaction in your experience with us. In the same breath, we are trying to get this rifle range on it's own feet, so that it will eventually support itself. All of us at Spirit Ridge have full time jobs, and end up donating our time and coin for the cause. We don't plan on getting rich with this event, but it would be nice to see the initial investment one day, so we can keep things running, and provide a facility for you, me, and our future generation, a place to do what it is that we all love.
"To shootinfool" In responce to your comment, I do apolagize for your dissatisfied experience with us, and also I appriciate the feedback. It is crucial for me to learn from our mistakes and make them better for next time. I'm not sure which tournament you attended, but I'm sure I can guess. We schedule 1hr per group per station, and recently it has proven to work out, giving plenty of time to the shooters, unless people are late for their tee time, thats when we get in trouble, not sure how to resolve this one. Also our spotters are asked to state, "hit or miss", I have asked them not to be your placement spotter, because of people who disagree with us and feel it is to their disadvantage. Unless they are asked by the shooter for placement they stay aloof. So feel free to bring your own spotter. One more thing, I would encourage one like yourself to come out to the range on a non-scheduled event day, where you can take your time within reason, and not feel rushed. Just like any other sporting event, a tournament is always on some kind of a time limit restriction and reffs, our tournaments are no different than game day, or moment of truth after all you never know how long a shot will present itself. We have had approx. 95% of our clients state that they have been educated one way or another every time they participate and challenge our course. Some have even informed me of the shot they made this year, because they drew refference from a shot they made at the range. And thats what its all about, is gaining confidence in your shooting ability. So come and join us and shoot a course that is pretty darn realistic. The course is open monday thru sat, all we ask is give us a little notice with your tee time. Thanks again for your input and if anyone has any wisdom or advice, I would love to hear from you.

I hope that you did not take that as a personal slam against you or your buisness. I only wanted to give some constructive feedback. You are an upstanding person, as I have met you on a few different occasions, and I like that you are taking a chance with your buisness. I have shot there a total of three times, so this was not just one persons opinion based on a one time experience. Even though I said I probably wouldn't be back, I have said that two times before also. Infact when I get your fliers in the mail, my wife automatically assumes that I am going. It was a great course and the people were great. I thought that there was alot of hard work that went into each event that I went to and the folks there really wanted everyone to have a positive experience. Thanks for what you do and hopefully you find great success in what you are doing for the sport.

Hey guys. I have been to the spirit ridge course at least 8 times over the last two years. I have read some of the postings for it and have to say that I personally have enjoyed it every time I have gone. I have more fun each time I go and have been able to get several of my family members and friends to go too. One of my friends is from Pocatello, ID and he has come down three times this year alone. I think the combinations of ranges and targets is great. I never really thought I could take long range shots at some of the game I have taken over the years, but now I feel like I can.

If you can make out to their range, you should. You don't always have to go on their tournament days. You can go up with a group of your own and spend most of the day shooting the course. I have taken my brother and his boys up to do this and we had a ball!!!

I attended a tournament at Spirit Ridge this summer. I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt the staff was top notch. They were always helpful, answered all my questions and basically made it enjoyable. I only felt rushed on one hole and that was the 1000 yarder and it was probably because my buddy and myself used all our muligans trying to hit that gong.
It was nice to get out in some varied shooting conditions and practice in a real world environment. I was able to see what rounds worked and refine my drop charts. Could not ask for a better scenario to train in. I plan to schedule a personal (non-tournament) trip wiht some friends as soon as I get a few different loads worked up.
If I had to offer any criticism I would have to say I did have a little trouble locating some of the targets and noting the range. I think it may be a good idea to post a large live camera shot of the range from a shooting position that encompasse all the targets at that stop. Then overlay that live shot with oversized highlighted (like in neon colors) postions of the targets with the range listed to the side. Laminate it so it's weatherproof and post it on the back of the awning. That way people can familiarize themselves with the positions and ranges of the targets before they get into shooting position.
Overall, it was a good time and I would recommend it to anyone.

Thanks for the feedback, it's all good info for me to have good or bad. Thats how we make adjustments for a more enjoyable time.
"bigcat", I'm not a golf fan myself, but where else can you go and have 6 miles round trip on your atv, in the mountains, and have 9 holes of Teeing off with a bang? Good times! Hey, got a question for anyone with an opinion, On our tournaments we have no stipulations on what caliber rifle you shoot, I just wonder if the guys that like to shoot the 223, or 22-250 ect. like to shoot against the guys with the big mags. Don't get me wrong, I have seen these smaller calibers hold their own, but they are at a disadvantage with the wind and such. Would I get a better turnoutif we had different tournament for different calibers in there own brackets? Also, how important is the life like sillohette targets vs. just having a swinging gong target? Let me know what you think.

I am pretty sure that the targets at Spirit Ridge are black silhoette's of various game you would see in the field. In order for your shot to count you have to hit a 1 foot by 2 foot metal gong which is placed precisley over the vital's of the animal. Any other direct hit to the silhoette does not count. I believe from what I can remember the gong is painted white for contrast against the black silhoette.

I think the suggestion was made that at the shooting station it would be a good idea to have a poster size picture of the hill side with the targets identified and highlighted on the poster...(maybe in orange). The poster could include; station elevation, target range and overall terrain obstacles to consider such as mulitpe cross canyon's, deep gorge, etc.

I think this is a great idea and would probably help speed the game along and alleviate the rushed feeling. Half of my anxiety on tournament day came from not being able to find the target. The visual poster at that shooting station would be sweet!

All the shooters are required to stay on the main trail and are required to wear orange. I think the guides do a great job at enforcing this policy, it is a pretty safe environment.

About us

My family and I welcome you. I started LRH back in 2001 to provide a friendly place where like-minded individuals could share information and ideas to help take their long range shooting and hunting to the next level.